


I Burn Eternal

by Lionesskeeper



Series: The Phoenix and the Time Lord [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-18
Updated: 2015-08-18
Packaged: 2018-04-15 08:22:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4599684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lionesskeeper/pseuds/Lionesskeeper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor, traveling alone finds himself back in London where strange events are appearing and being fixed at an alarming rate, without Torchwood or the Doctor’s own interference. When he tracks what’s stopping these strange events, he will get a surprise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1.

**Author's Note:**

> ‘Give my love to Time and Pain,' said the Doctor.’  
> From ‘Human Nature’ by Paul Cornell- Chapter Thirteen: Let Me Tell You Something That's True

The TARDIS dematerialized in London. He was alone, no one by his side, no one to keep him company, no Time Lord presence he could sense. As much as he was belittled, embarrassed and even sometimes shunned by his own people he still craved their company. He felt his inferior and superior all the time. His secret didn’t pass his lips freely anymore. He had to pick a side, he picked the superior. But nestled within his consciousness the inferior side remained. And on times like this, on those rare moments when his life was a bit quiet, he plays with it, the side that craves normality but as always he was brought back to reality by the beating of both his alien hearts.

************************************************************************

The TARDIS had indicated disturbances occurring all over London. However whenever he got close to any source, it would stop and there was no trace of it to be found anywhere. He would usually be glad at this but with how quickly these disturbances were appearing and disappearing, something wasn’t right. He got to the last known disturbance that the TARDIS picked up to find that again there was nothing there. But at the last spot he got a feeling as if someone was following him

She was there in the last spot after she stopped the threat when the TARDIS materialized. She quickly ran and hid close by behind some rubbish bins. A man stepped out, she guessed it was the Doctor; he was alone she had noticed, as had closed the door behind him. It had been some time since she had seen him; he had regenerated since she had last seen him. She missed the fact that she couldn’t just walk up to him and have him regard her as a friend and to recognise her. The Time War stopped all that, but she missed his friendship so much. She was really tempted to reach out and touch his shoulder.

He sensed it in the air, someone was there, and he was almost sure of it. He walked over to a spot in the alleyway; it smelt a bit of sulphur. He held out his hand, the energy being given off made the hair on the back of his hand stand on edge.

She carefully got up from where she was hiding and went to move into the shadows a bit more. She made it into the shadows and waited. But like he had heard her, he swung his head around. He came close to her before he heard a scream and quickly ran away to try and find its source.

When she was sure that he was gone, she ran to the opening of the alley and peered out at him as he left. Then he quickly looked back and spotted her. This caught her by surprise and she ran away.

He didn’t know what it was but he looked back, in the middle of tracking down an unknown nasty, he stopped to look around, this never happened to him before. But he spotted her; she was leaning against the corner of the alleyway, just looking at him. She had purple streaks of colour in her dark hair, she was pale and thin of face. He would know her again if he saw her. Then she spotted him looking at her, she got frightened and ran away. ‘Wait!’ he called out. But then he was alerted to the sound of screams again and he groaned and ran off again.

Her heart was pounding, that moment was too close for comfort. She turned and faced the TARDIS; it had been through an awful lot. She put her hand up and touched the outside and then left.

He arrived back to the TARDIS a couple of minutes later.

Crystal walked into Sparrow and Nightingale’s for a look around the books section; she picked up a copy of Yeats poetry and left to a nearby coffee shop.

The TARDIS materialised not far from where it materialised last. She was distracted by something, he could tell. He looked outside, all around him and he spotted her, the same girl sitting in a coffee shop, he went over and walked inside.

She knew that he was coming over to her; she never forgot a scent, especially his. Footsteps continued until it stopped at where she was sitting, her heart leapt in her chest, but her composure remained the same.

‘Grant me an old man’s frenzy’ he found himself saying.  
‘Myself must I remake’ she replied, smirking over her book of poetry.  
He grinned back at her.

He sat over the way from her. She had a mug of tea along with her book; she called a waitress and asked for another mug of tea.

‘Why were you in the alleyway?’ he asked her straight out.

‘I was doing my job, that’s all’ she told him.

‘Who do you work for, Torchwood?’ he questioned her.

‘I’m freelance, like you. Torchwood are good, I’ll give you now that Captain Jack is at its head’ she replied adding ‘and before you accuse me of murder, I didn’t kill them, I frightened them off, that’s all’

‘I’m assuming that you know about how I get around’ he replied adding suddenly horrified ‘Oh God, you’re not one of LINDA’. She giggled

‘No, I’m not, LINDA disbanded a long time ago, I know because they were on my case about you’ she replied. ‘Why would they be on your case, I’ve never seen you before today’ he said rather matter of fact.

‘Ah, now that’s where it gets a bit sticky for me’ she said rather nervously.

‘Why?’ he asked her.

‘Cause, I have seen you before today, sure you have changed with regeneration, but you’re still the same man. Still the same person, despite the change of face and the scars’ she replied.

‘I have no scars’ he replied quickly. ‘Not outwards, inwards, your scars are on your soul. You’ve been hurt internally and I couldn’t help you, as much as I wanted to’ she said trying not to cry.

‘I have to go’ she told him. She paid for both teas and walked out, the Doctor followed her. ‘What do you mean, as much as you wanted?’ he asked.

‘It doesn’t matter ok, forget about me Thet’ she told him running off. ‘What did you call me?’ he said rather dumbstruck, it was a name that he hadn’t heard or gone by for quite a long time.

She was gone again from him, he wished she would stay a little longer and tell him more, maybe shed a bit of light. Part of him believed her, part of him didn’t, but she still was of interest to him. He walked to the TARDIS but was attacked.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ‘Long ago and far away. That's one way of looking at it.’  
> From ‘Human Nature’ by Paul Cornell-Prologue

He was attacked and held down from behind.

‘Where is she, we saw you with her, now where is she?’ one of them growled.

Then the Doctor got a look at them, they weren’t human, they were biped animals in military outfits. ‘I don’t know who you’re talking about’ he replied.

‘Wrong answer, now where is Crystal???’ one of the beasts asked him impatiently shoving him up against the wall.

‘Right behind you’ she replied to them. They turned around quickly and spotted her. She looked at them with a steely intent. ‘Nice of you to join us Crystal, just in time to see us rip apart your friend’ sneered one of them.

‘Leave him alone, this doesn’t concern him’ she ordered them adding ‘The fact of the matter stands, you broke the directive and came to the surface, which makes you my responsibility, that’s why I’m hunting you, that is the law’

‘The laws of the underground don’t apply to us, there is only one place that we get orders from and that is Torchwood as you well know’ one of the animals spoke to her.

‘Why can’t you get it into your big thick heads that the old order did die at Canary Wharf’ she retorted.

‘Because it couldn’t’ the other replied.

‘She’s telling the truth, I was there in the battle, the old order went poof, kaput, gone!’ the Doctor shouted out. The Doctor spotted out of the corner of his eye that Crystal’s face had become distorted and animal like.

‘Shut up’ replied one of the animals throwing him to the ground. She quickly moved in front of him.

‘Leave’ she growled. They did so rather reluctantly. But then suddenly one of them turned back and lunged at the Doctor.  
She moved so quickly that he could barely see her as she broke the animal’s neck. It slumped in front of the Doctor.

‘You know well by now, no second chances, now GO!’ she shouted back to the remaining animal. The remaining animal ran away quickly, leaving the two of them alone.

She helped him up and turned to leave. She had changed back to normal. He couldn’t let her go again without finding out how and when she had known him from. ‘I think you better tell me how you know me and what exactly are you’ he told her rather matter of fact. She sighed; maybe it was time.

‘I can’t tell you here, I have to show you. We have to go to the TARDIS first’ she told him. They walked back to the TARDIS and he let her in.  
She looked around for a moment. ‘You’ve redecorated again. I love it, coral isn’t it’ she said. He nodded. ‘I love it, much more you than the grandiose gothic look that you gave her before, brilliant!’ she told him. He grinned back at her. Her face turned serious then. ‘I had to lock the coordinates, stop her from putting in the coordinates for my home during the Time War, all that thing about if an enemy of the Time Lords got a hold of her she could be used to kidnap me, change the course of the war for the worst’ she told him. She put her hand on the console and immediately the TARDIS monitor came to life.

She grinned.

‘How did you do that?’ he asked her rather astonished.

‘She remembers me’ she replied.

‘Wait a minute, my ship remembers you and yet I can’t remember ever meeting you, why? ‘He asked her.

‘All in good time Doctor’ she replied. He put her hand on the monitor, a load of coordinates flashed up on the screen quickly and then stopped at two in particular in Gallifreyan.  
‘Now I have to go Doctor, these coordinates will take you to my home, bit risky otherwise, see you there. Well what are you waiting for, ship needs its pilot and you’re the best man for the job, see you soon old friend’ she told him slipping out of the TARDIS quickly.

He did what she said, although he didn’t know where she was going, but he guessed that he was going to find out. He started her up and he was soon on his way. It wasn’t long until the TARDIS materialised. He put on the monitor and saw her sitting on a couch, reading from a book. He then decided to step outside. He walked over to her; she was reading ‘The Time Machine’. ‘You know, I read this book originally several years ago on advice given to me by you, you were obsessed about that book at the time, I recall’ she told him.

He looked around him at the place that he was in. It was like a catacomb but made of dirt. There was warren like rooms visible at every level. The top of the catacomb was a circular strip of gold. There were two styles of writing on it, ancient Egyptian and also a writing style that he hadn’t seen in some time, old high Gallifreyan.

‘It’s said that Rassilon visited Earth and after he came back to Gallifrey, forbade any Time Lord from interfering in Earth affairs, it was never written down in the official history, but this place being in existence is proof of it’ she told him.

‘He had a lot of secrets that is true’ he mused.

‘These writings tell of what happened here, how Rassilon had to come to Earth to find…’ she was interrupted by the Doctor.

‘A host for the eternal Phoenix’ he finished off, then he looked at her in disbelief and added

‘That is just a crazy story…’ he was interrupted by her. ‘Told to you by the hermit if I recall from what you told me’

He looked at her suspiciously, no one knew this much about him, he didn’t even let his companions know about this, and here this person was someone who he thought he only just met telling him bits about his own life.

 **Crystal, let me talk to him, he might believe you if he sees me** Phoenix spoke in her mind. **Ok** she told her.

At that moment something started to happen to her, she started to hold her chest for a couple of minutes and her stagger back onto a nearby couch, a light resembling a flame left her and started to resemble a bird as it made it’s way to a nearby perch.  
‘I wish that could go a little smoother Phoenix, it hurts’ she told the fiery being.

 **I know Crystal, but it's the only way** it replied.

‘'So you're the Phoenix' the Doctor said. Yes it replied simply. 'I still am finding this impossible to believe' he told both of them. Crystal looked away, but Phoenix stared back at him.

 **I thought that anything was possible for you, maybe in your later years you have become more a Time Lord than ever before, you forgot who and what you are** Phoenix told him.

'What do you mean by that?' he questioned.

 **You know, you are more than a regular Time Lord** it replied. Crystal straightened up alarmed at what Phoenix had said. 'Stop it Phoenix, please' Crystal pleaded. Phoenix's attention shifted to Crystal. Crystal just stared at Phoenix, and it stared at her.

 **I'm just telling him the truth Crystal, that's all** it replied.

**Well even if we do know the truth about him, we have to play it safe, and he might not react the way we might like Crystal told it.**

Phoenix shifted topic. **Look at him, one time he could hear you thought speak perfectly, now he cannot hear you** Phoenix told her.

 **Yeah, well we all know whose idea it was to wipe his memory don't we** Crystal retorted.

The Doctor then notice Crystal’s gaze soften. She was rather embarrassed. He noticed subtle little things about her, how she twitched when she was embarrassed, how shy it made her…how her eyes seemed so old for someone who was still so young, well when compared with him.

‘Is there anyone else here, anyone else in here? ’ he asked. ‘No, only me, and Phoenix of course’ she replied. There was an awkward silence before he spoke again. ‘You called me Thet’ he said. ‘Slip of tongue I’m afraid, and my give away’ she told him giving him a small smile. ‘Tell me how you know me’ he asked her again softly. ‘Perhaps you should see for yourself’ she replied. She went over to him and sat next to him. ‘Read my mind, I can’t tell you in words’ she told him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ‘The cat could see that the man was weeping... But there was nobody he could tell.’  
> From ‘Human Nature’ by Paul Cornell-Chapter Fourteen: Cat Heaven

Her mind was filled with vast doors that lead into her own memories.   **Some doors are closed for reasons that you wouldn't understand, well at least not yet anyway**  she told him. He eventually found a door that opened, it lead to an alleyway. He watched from a distance and spotted Crystal in the alleyway, shivering and cowering. She was wearing just a medical garb. She was totally aware all around her to everything going on.  
Then he spotted someone going her way, her attention quickly shifted, but she did not move.

Then he recognized who the figure was, it was him, well him in his eighth form. His attention was shifted down to Crystal. ‘Hello’ he greeted her politely. He crouched down until he was eye level with her. ‘I’m the Doctor’ he told her reaching out his hand in friendship.

‘My name is Crystal’ she told him and reached out her hand to meet his own.  
‘Why are you here?’ he asked her.

‘It’s a long story’ she told him adding ‘I don’t think you would have the time or patience to hear it’  
‘Oh, there’s always time’ he replied with a grin.  
At that moment the image faded and the Doctor broke contact with her, he brought his hands away from her face.

She looked at him curiously for a minute before looking away. She wondered whether or not he believed her now.

‘If you like, I could show you around’ she told him.

He looked at her and nodded. ‘Ok’ he replied.

Many of the rooms were unused, centuries old dust covered boxed that filled those rooms, a bit like some of the rooms in the TARDIS he mused to himself. Some were filled with ancient scrolls and books that were extraordinarily old. What was funny was that there was a third floor, the Doctor could clearly see, bur Crystal never even mentioned it. When they got to the end of the rooms on the second floor he asked her.  
‘What’s on the third floor?’  
‘Ah, well I was just getting to that, there is a room on the third floor that has a door designed to take a retinal and bodily scan of you only’ she told him.

‘How do you know?’ he asked her.

‘Because you helped me build it’ she told him.

She hesitated and looked away from him, her eyes became distant, afraid and preoccupied with something.

‘Crystal, are you ok?’ he asked her.

Her attention shot back to him. ‘Fine and dandy, never better’ she told him.

He started to move towards the lifts but suddenly noticed that Crystal was not going with him. He looked back at her.

‘Well aren’t you coming with me’ he called back to her. ‘Oh yeah definably, just give me a few minutes and I’ll be up after you, you go on ahead, it’s the gold door with a silver trim and Gallifreyan symbols, you cannot miss it’ she told him.

He walked down the dimly lit corridor; there nestled at the very end of it, on the left hand side was the door. There was both old high Gallifreyan and contemporary Gallifreyan written on the doors, both revealing his true name. He stood away from the door, just looking at it. It was defiantly designed by him; the body scanner would have been top of the line back on his home as would be the design for the retinal scan. The technology was Gallifreyan too, but manipulated for his use. He walked over to it, standing just outside of the scan range, and then an image came to him, something in this technology that gave off a visual psychic residual energy that he picked up.

An image flashed in front of his eyes, it was the same one which he had seen in Crystal’s mind, but with a little bit more information and from his perspective.  
‘I’m being hunted to be recaptured because of what I am, I was tested on by a group calling themselves Torchwood, my genetic makeup changed, sure I seem human but inside in my mind, I know what I am’ she told him.  
‘And what exactly are you?’ he asked her. ‘Not human, well not fully, not anymore. I am part beast’ she told him.  
And then the image finished.

He found himself leaving the door and running down to the second floor, but Crystal couldn’t be found and then he ran down to the main hall where Phoenix was still perched.  
‘Where is she?’ he found himself asking it.

 **In the cell just over there, I wouldn't open it though; she's having one of her turns**  it replied.

At that moment a roar erupted from the direction of the cell.

‘I’ll go’ he told it adding as he walked back to the TARDIS.

‘Tell Crystal that I just can’t do it’

  
**Don't turn your back on her again Halfling, I know what you keep hidden deep down in your hearts, Crystal knew it also, but she would never tell anyone what she knows about you, she's that sort of a person** it called out to him. He turned and faced it angrily. ‘I left that side behind me, I had to forget’ he told it.

 **Ah, but it's that very thing which defines you, makes you a stronger person, certain individuals helped you see that**  Phoenix replied.

‘But it still didn’t help them, I couldn’t help them, they all died, left me alone and got trapped elsewhere’ he told it.

  **Don't you think that I don't know, every night and day me and Crystal felt it, felt your planet die, we both mourned it, but it wasn't your fault, there was nothing else that you could do, they had control of the citadel, you had to do it. I watched you from the distance and kept tabs on you. But Crystal feels it the most, the images and the emotions were and still are too much for her, which along with her violent becoming of what she is worsened her condition. The beast inside her is there, I help her suppress it, but I can't be there all the time and it is then that it pounces her and takes her over**

‘Like now’ he surmised.

  **Exactly, she has a constant battle with it. You're not the only one with a soul in conflict** it told him adding **Now, don't mind Crystal, I'll keep a close eye on her. You have a room to get into**

He sighed and nodded in reply.

He made his way up to the third floor. He found himself defying his Time Lord intuition. He got into the room; the door did only work for him. The room inside was dusty, like the other unused rooms, not opened in years. On the shelves there were books of Time Lord history and other such things. On the desk there were things from his childhood in particular, he thought that he had lost; he had gone looking for them, there were only small things but were of sentimental value to him. There was a table on his left hand side and on it was a box and beside that were two flat discs with what seemed to be a large button in the centre. He flexed his hand over the buttons and then pressed down on one, it was a holoprojector.

The image that appeared was Crystal. She began to talk.  
‘Doctor, if you are getting this message, then you came back. I don’t expect you to remember much, well at least not yet. Inside the box is an orb used to wipe your memory just in case you were captured in the Time War. It is sad that I have to loose you in a sense; over the last year I had come to regard you as one of my closest friends. I would like to put it on record that I don’t like the fact that you’re doing this; however you convinced me that it was ok and that you would come back to me eventually. If you are getting this message, the time has come to take your memories back. The danger must now have passed’  
‘Goodbye my friend, until I see you again’  
With that the message switched off.

He turned on the second holo-projector to find that it contained an image of his eighth self. The image spoke.  
‘In this grave time, there has arisen the need to have my memory wiped. Crystal is as much a friend as she is an ally, but it has come to the Time Lord’s attention that the Daleks have acquired mind probe technology. That could endanger everyone in the known orbital systems if she captured. We will probably never fully be free of the Daleks, I recognise that. Their creator made sure of that. But if you are watching this, then obviously I survived, at what cost I dare not try and comprehend. This has to be done. In the box there is an orb with your missing memories. The TARDIS will recognise when it is time to come back, I have faith in her. To my future selves I must stress highly to you, never forget what you are in your hearts, even if time has been cruel to you’

With that the image faded.  
He found himself standing over the box. His hand hovering over it as if trying to sense something of him, but instead felt nothing. He opened the box, and there was the orb as the image of him had said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All owned by the Beeb. (Except for Crystal, she belongs to me)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prof. River Song: ‘You know when you see a photograph of someone you know? But it's from years before you knew them, it's like they're not quite... finished, they're... they're not done yet. Well, yes. The Doctor's here. He came when I called, just like he always does. But not my Doctor.’ From ‘Forest of the Dead’ by Steven Moffat

He looked at the clouded orb for a moment in its case. This could be a horrible mistake or it could be true. Something in his gut told him that it was the right decision. A roar could be heard in the distance that broke his gaze for a moment. But his eyes snapped back to the orb. He then picked it up and held it up to his eye line.   **Allons-y** he thought to himself.  
He concentrated and looked deeply into the orb. Then there was a blinding white light, his eyes were opened again.

Crystal pounded the door of her cell angrily roaring, wallowing in her own rage and madness that overwhelmed her moments before. She managed to keep control long enough for her to shackle herself up. Her madness caused her to change. Her humanity shrunk back to the shadows of her mind.  
The beast was in control.

Memories came back to him, long lost fragments of his mind he had thought that made no sense to him once realigned into their proper place in his mind. Like those of what exactly he was doing before he went off to fight in the time war, his memory was disjointed of that time for him.

 _He was still in his eighth body. The Phoenix that had been entrusted to him brought him to the place. As he walked he heard a rustling up ahead of him. He spotted Crystal; she had already seen him and was shivering with the cold and scared. ‘Hello’ he greeted her politely. He crouched down until he was eye level with her. ‘I’m the Doctor’ he told her reaching out his hand in friendship. ‘My name is Crystal’ she told him and reached out her hand to meet his own._  
_‘Why are you here?’ he asked her. ‘It’s a long story’ she told him adding ‘I don’t think you would have the time or patience to hear it’_  
_‘Oh, there’s always time’ he replied with a grin._  
_‘Do you mind me asking, why you are so scared’ he found himself saying, still getting used to the sound of his old voice. ‘I’m being hunted because of what I am’ she told him._  
_‘And what exactly are you’ he asked her curiously._  
_‘Not human, not anymore’ she replied_

With that, he broke his gaze with the orb, the orb was no longer clouded but see through. His missing memories were back.  
He remembered how he brought Crystal to the catacombs. Phoenix sensed a light in her and wanted her to replace her old host, who had died of old age.  
The human myth of the Phoenix rising from the ashes was true in a sense. The Doctor had known her predecessor; he knew a lot of them. Who all lived out lives as host to Phoenix, all living a lonely life. The Doctor remembered more of his time with Crystal in particular.

 

‘ _You never got to tell me what your real name was Crystal, before you got changed I mean’ he had remembered asking her a while later on another trip to the catacombs to visit his friend. ‘You never told me yours’ she said rather playfully. He shot her a withered look. ‘Hey, I’m only joking, Phoenix did tell me it was one thing not to ask you, but couldn’t resist when you asked me’ she said with a grin. Then the grin melted into a more solemn face ‘My real name, my name before I was changed. It was Sasha Turnpike’ she told him adding ‘My nickname was Sash. Hey Doctor, did you have a nickname’ she asked him curiously. He sighed; he supposed that he had to, even though he hated that nickname when he was in the University on Gallifrey. ‘It was Theta Sigma, but it was always shortened to Thet, don’t know why’ he told her. She smiled at him warmly.  
Over time he forged a deeper connection with her. But then the Time War occurred and everything changed._

The roars stopped. Four hours had passed, the Doctor, who was listening out in one of the rooms, went down to the ground floor and went to go into the cage. **Doctor, even though the roars have stopped, she might still be gripped by the madness**  he heard Phoenix say in his mind. But the Doctor wasn’t worried, he looked over at her with a hardened look on his face, then his face softened. Phoenix realized that he remembered her and bowed its head; the Doctor just gave it a curt nod in return. The link that existed between Crystal and him told him the contrary; it was safe to go inside. He reached into her mind and saw what she saw.

She was asleep, the madness had ceased and she had been dreaming.  
_She was still in the cage, but she was sitting up, ahead of her she could see the Doctor that she knew, his 8th form. As he moved towards her, he changed. His hair became tightly cut, his clothes changed to a black leather coat and black trousers. He continued to move towards her and changed again to the Doctor who she met in the street and had brought to the catacombs._  
She woke up with a start and sat up in the cage.

She felt alone, she choked back a sob. There was no way that the Doctor would do what she asked of him. Perhaps it had to be this way. It would be hard to let go of him, after all he had known her and her predecessors and he saved her life. He was her friend, he understood her, and they were psychically attached to each other.

She was upset, he sensed.  
He heard her in his mind contemplate life without him, thinking that his superior had won out again. He went inside and closed the door firmly behind him. She just looked at him with a surprised look on her face before her gaze softened and she looked down again. He didn’t say anything, just walked over to where she was and sat away from her. Then he shuffled towards her, in a childish way.

She looked over at him as he shuffled towards her and as he stopped, she became bemused by his antics.

 **He's absolutely mad, I like that, reminds me a bit of myself** he heard her think.

He smiled internally at this comment.

 **Why is he doing this to me? If he doesn't remember me, why doesn't he just go? Leave me to help him save the world from the shadows, this sadness is hurting my heart** she thought.

He was surprised to hear this; he thought he was doing the right thing. She was looking at him rather puzzled; his surprise must have registered on his face.

 **Why is he looking at me like that, it's not like he can hear me anymore?** She thought. He decided enough was enough. **But I can** he told her telepathically.

She looked surprised; he continued to speak to her. **You have more control over the beast than when I last left you, that's good he told her. I remember you Crystal, I remember you now old friend, don't be sad, I've come back to you, Sasha Turnpike.**

He could see the shock on her face; she spun round and reached out to hug him. **You're back to me. I missed you so much. I saw it, the Time War and felt it. I was so worried** she told him.

 **Easy Halfling, take it easy. You don't want to go feral again** he told her.

 **Halfling! You're one to talk** she replied.

 **Well what would you rather? If it were hybrid, kith, kin, Club, Conglomerate. I like the word conglomerate.** He asked her with a grin.

 **Oh, here we go again, we keep on having this discussion every time. Ok, if there is a word that you want to pigeon-hole us in as a group, then just put me in the one that I'm most comfortable in** she told him.

 **Which one** he replied with a cheeky grin.

 **We are friends, friends who are in the same circumstances. Anyways, I don't like the ideas of clubs, when has any club benefited anyone, and the cost** she replied with a mock air of shock.

She was an impossible thing, a human that had her mind physically changed in composition when she became the host to the Phoenix. She was his friend and kept her own humanness accordingly. She understood him, but never wanted to complicate their friendship by wanting their friendship to progress to some thing romantic. He was glad of that.

He took her gently by the hand and gently led her out of the cage. Phoenix’s attention shifted to the door of the cage as the door itself opened. Out came the Doctor, he was holding Crystal’s hand. He looked up cheekily with a grin at Phoenix, as Phoenix looked at him with something like a glint in its eye.

His memories were back, friendships restored.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: All owned by the Beeb. (Except for Crystal and the catacombs and Phoenix, those belong to me)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Note: This is a Tenth Doctor fic exclusively, is not meant for any other Doctor. This fic had been in my head since David Tennant took over, and with the end of his tenure as Doctor, I wish to finish the saga that was the writing of this fic off once and for all. This has been a labour of love for me, starting off first with Rose and the Doctor, and then shifting to the Doctor and Martha, to then being a fic with the Doctor alone, I have rewritten this story many times and I cannot bear to rewrite it again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prof. River Song narrating: Everybody knows that everybody dies. But not every day. Not today. Some days are special. Some days are so, so blessed. Some days, nobody dies at all. From ‘Forest of the Dead’ by Steven Moffat

**Welcome back, my friend** Phoenix told him.

'Phoenix is it time yet' she asked.

 **I think so Crystal, bring it out** Phoenix replied.

Crystal went over to a cupboard and took down what looked like a small glass paperweight.

'This is for you' she told him. He took it from her rather puzzled. Then he looked closer at it, then looked back in disbelief to Crystal before looking back again at the paperweight again, it was an impossible object. There seemed to be a small red cloud of spiraling dust, debris and energy.

'What is this, Crystal? He asked her.

'It's a piece of home, along with the TARDIS that you can have with you always' she told him.

'That cannot be in existence' he told her adding 'When Gallifrey was destroyed, Phoenix had to consume its energy'.

 **But I didn't, I couldn't, Doctor. I am a creature that burned wild and free in the universe, before Rassilon tamed me and taught me how to have a conscience. As much as he is responsible for many a bad deed, he is also equally responsible for some good ones also. I burn eternal, I have lived before you were born, forged during the dark times. I will live long after you're dead. I have eternity, whereas you, Doctor are just finite to me. Rassilon tamed me and taught me there. I have many a good memory of Gallifrey; it's the place I considered home before Rassilon sent me here. I couldn't consume Gallifrey, I weep for Gallifrey and her loss to the universe. So here is my gift, please accept it, old friend** it told him.

'It's suspended in the sky? You mean it's still there' he questioned it.

 **Yes, it is suspended in both time and space as energy and dust** it told him.

He half smiled at them then and looked away, becoming caught in his own thoughts.

Later, she went with him to the surface.

 **Y'know, I remember it all, everything that happened with the Master, I worked in the resistance and helped Martha. I told her to keep quiet about me. When time was reversed, Phoenix cocooned me in a time proof shield to preserve my memories** she told him adding **I helped to boost the psychic network, it wasn't strong enough and not even on the right frequency for the Time Lord brain to even fully interact with. So slowly but surely I hacked into the system psychically and voila!** She said pointing at him.

'I was thinking that there was someone there at the time in the matrices, but I dismissed it as just being my old mind finally succumbing to the cobwebs. And with my body being, well not what it was at the time, I just dismissed it………'he told her.

'As just phantoms of the mind, Doctor? We all have those' she told him smiling. He smiled back at her.

They were chatting later on back at the catacombs, recounting all that they had seen since they last saw each other. She loved being able to talk to him and laugh with him again.

'It's strange, Doctor. I mean I remember everything from that year. I mean, I literally cannot talk to anyone about it'. He cleared his throat making an 'Ahem' noise with his throat.

'Except for you of course….and Martha, maybe, am still a bit iffy about her and UNIT' she told him adding 'The curse of the Phoenix host, I remember because I must. In case it ever happened again' she told him. He understood what she told him.

Later, they went to the surface in the TARDIS.

'This is where we say goodbye' she said.

'For now' he said.

'For now' she mimicked with a grin.

She went over and hugged him.

'Don't leave it so long to see me again, ok'. She told him. He chuckled.

He opened the door of the TARDIS, gazing back for a moment before leaving. **See you again, Sasha** he thought at the TARDIS dematerialized.

With that she sighed and walked away. **Till we meet again, Doctor** she thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: All owned by the Beeb. (Except for Crystal and the catacombs and Phoenix, those belong to me)

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: All owned by the Beeb
> 
> (I wrote this fanfic a few years ago before 'Day of the Doctor')


End file.
